Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Acquires 2,100 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norden Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 141.0% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 6,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 3,770 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Duke Energy during the 1st quarter worth $80,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 1st quarter worth $592,000. Catalina Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the first quarter valued at about $235,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 5.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 16,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $114.08 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $115.87 and its 200-day moving average is $108.57. The firm has a market cap of $88.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $86.61 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.98%.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through two segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure (EU&I), and Gas Utilities and Infrastructure (GU&I). The EU&I segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest.